hysteria
by So Guhn
Summary: Link finds a way back to Twilight, but gains more than he bargained for. A shadowed past; conflict fights its way back to Hyrule once more. Will Link be able to save it in time or will he succumb to hysteria? Post-Twilight Princess. Link/Zelda.
1. a once diluted midnight holds your hand

a/n: And you thought this was never going to exist and I was just going to write Hetalia fic forever. Well. You were half right.

**hysteria**

Chapter One

_a once diluted midnight holds your hand_

A couple bickers amongst themselves in the grassy fields. They are moving to a distant cousin's village, a small place in the woods known as Ordon. It is in the land of Hyrule, a holy land they had heard that monsters raged over again and again when a Queen was without a King, and a Princess Zelda lived. Indeed a Princess Zelda lived there now, however a King, her father ruled. And they found it unlikely to fear what had yet to happen. They were good farming folk who knew many a thing or two about animals. They knew nothing of the city. Their clothes are not only travel worn but farm worn and while they do best to keep clean sometimes you cannot help it and they do not mind it.

The village they had been living in had grown too small, the land coarse and unproductive, people murmured of witches and wolves, so they decided to seek home else where, and with correspondence to their cousin it was decided they would move to Ordon.

The wife is called Ambri and her husband Xandre, he is quite skilled in making cheeses, while she was quite skilled in getting him to actually work. They were a squabbling pair who loved each other more with every heated argument. However much that they loved each other, Ambri could not become pregnant and after many years of trying they gave up hope that they would ever have a child.

And that was why as they pulled along their small wagon over the tough grass, a wagon of rickety wood and joints piled with supplies, clothes, and equipment that they could not carry on their backs- that was why when a woman with long dark hair and sharp eyes appeared before them, a billowing cloak surrounding the rest of her body, convolving like clouds in a storm. They are struck by her beauty yet wonder if she is some sort of goddess (from her beauty) or a witch (from their experience). Xandre sticks out his arm before his wife, cautiously, protectively, one step forward on the grass, a soft crunch in the air and abbreviation of breath.

"Ca-can we help you?"

And she smiles, entirely ethereal and distasteful all at once.

"If you would be so kind, then yes," her voice is fast clear water, it runs deep and they find that had she not appear with such a pretty face, that cloak around feminine curves, features- they may have taken her for a man.

She gracefully extends an arm and reveals beneath her cloak, a boy with golden hair and equally blue eyes. But the shade is mismatched and the couple do not surmise any relation, other than that the two exist by each other. The boy is decked out in thick winter clothing, which does not match the mid spring, fur lining here and there. An eared hat, which does cover over his ears. Every shade of brown and deep red set in his clothing, an intricate design of flowers and symbols that are not Hylian set upon the clothing. The woman wears something similar though in dark greys and blacks. She ushers the boy forward with a press of her fingers and he steps, in hiccups to them. One step, two step.

"Will you not take this child in as your own?"

The couple looks upon them in stupor, sleepy and shock.

The woman continues, "He is without a mother, and without a father. This land knows him but he does not know the land. Won't you learn it together?"

Ambri looks on the boy wistfully; could she really have a child? Xandre carries a similar expression, could they really be parents? Why? Where had this boy come from? Why was this boy being offered to them?

They had not been the most devoted people to the gods, so why should the gods bless them?

And as if she knows their thoughts, the woman's expression to the very corners of her eyes is reassuring.

She tells them every fibre of conviction that could exist in the universe in her voice, "Because fate has chosen you."

A wind picks up, and brushes pass them gentle, her hair curling with the crests of the air, her cloak falling back over her. They tremble at her words, a rising feeling of euphoria and knowledge grips their very bones. Yes, this boy was their, is their-

"He is a good boy. Raise him as your son, and tell others that he is your son. He is only your son."

And when they bring their faces up from staring down upon the little boy, convinced and utterly willing the woman is gone.

Ambri extends her hand out to their son and he takes it.

--

They walk a long way through the grass, Ambri coaxingly trying to get the boy to talk. She tells him of their old village, the Pig Festival, how the old beggar used to make the best horse shoes, how the little boys would sneak to play ball when the chickens were only half fed, how she used to bake bread with her mother before she die, how Xandre and her had met.

And then she told them where they were going, about his "relatives", and about how Xandre was going to make cheese in that village too. What food did he like? Was he hot in those clothes?

But it was to no avail, he could only look up at her, trying to nod here and then, but in the end the scrunching of his eyesbrows, and the tough frown on his face revealing his confusion won out. For all his concentration, it did not give way to comprehension.

"Is he mute?" Xandre asks, and Ambri shakes her head.

"Maybe, but it also seems like he can hear us."

"I didn't say he was deaf-mute,"

"Shuttap you dolt. I mean that it appears he doesn't _understand_ what he's hearing."

"He doesn't know Hylian?"

"Maybe it's our dialect."

"He'd be able to get at least a bit of it if it was_ just_ the dialect Ambri."

"Didn't I tell you to shuttap?"

They walk along in quaking silence, Xandre huffing about her being impossible, and she giving him a sour look between every reassuring glance she gave the boy, when the thought struck her. "OH! What's his name?"

She turns to him, sheepishly. Hefting her pack by one strap and still holding his hand with the other. The night sky is paving a dark unto twilight, and she'd like to get to the village before it got too late. They are almost there. In theory, you could never know with Xandre's sense of direction.

"What is your name?"

He looks up her blankly, with the same furrowed brows. She stifles a laugh, feeling bad that she finds his expression cute when the fact they could not communicate would lead to problems.

She gestures to herself, "I am Ambri."

And with a little after thought says, "Your mama."

She points, rudely jutting her finger to Xandre, and eventually following through by poking him in the shoulder, "And this is Xandre, your papa."

Xandre sighs, it dissolves in a cough when Ambri shoots him a look as the boy remains silent. First he motions to them by their names with some difficulty, as if the syllables are too off from what he knows. And with some encouragement Ambri gets him to call them mama and papa, which seems to come more easily to him.

"That's right. But what are you called?"

Back to silence, aside from the gentle wind and the night, crickets chirp as the stars reveal themselves. The boy blinks up at them, now his mouth twisted in frustration.

"How about we give him a name?" Xandre pips in, with a heavy tug on the wagon, a wheel having been lodged at a rock. Freed with the tug.

Ambri glances over at him ecstatically, "A good idea! He is our son now after all, but what should we call him?"

They let out a thoughtful hum, pausing in step to rest their feet momentarily from movement, and to rub at their chins as if that may help them decide on a befitting name.

"I got it!" Ambri shouts out suddenly, startling a few resting birds from their slumbering perch in the trees. She snaps her fingers, and the boy fidgets a little. She let's go of his hand. It makes hers sweaty, his was gloved a smooth leather for the snow was for sure.

She looks over to Xandre confident in her choice, "We'll name him after that old Hylian legend."

"A legend? Don't you think that's a bit too much for us farmers? It's not like we're knights or royalty or-"

She tsks him, "Obviously you don't remember the legend. Which makes you more a dunce than you already are, this legend is famous! You know the one about that boy who comes from the woods and saves Hyrule? Who saves a Princess Zelda?"

"Oh and now there is a Princess Zelda again, very funny Ambri. I knew your sense of humour was worse than the head of nail but this is really pushing it-"

She punches him in the shoulder.

"This name comes not from knights or royalty, I see no reason why we cannot use it."

A part of her wishes to use it as homage to the gods, to thank them. That the son they have bestowed upon them by having such a name, would turn out just as good if not better than the hero they had chosen those many ages ago. (In her heart she admits an offering.)

"But," her husband says and gives a look too far tender from the mood of before, mouth soft. It is a father's smile. "It is a good name."

Ambri turns to the boy, patting him on the shoulder, "How about it our son? Your name is Link!"

Another heft to the wagon. Another stone? Xandre chuckles, "Wouldn't it be interesting if he really did have to go save the princess one day?"

Ambri stomps on his foot, just as they reach the foot of the village, both a little nervous at the prospect of their new home. "Don't say such a thing, it's bad luck."

If only they knew.

(Link peers into the woods and knows this is what home feels like.)

--

It had been too long since he had been home.

These woods, these trees, these familiar paths. The very air and the way the sky seemed to hold itself just a little bit differently (the lack of impending doom helped). And the people, his friends, they who were like his family.

It is perfect is what he'd like to say, is what he'd like to feel but it is not.

He stays up at night, every nerve is on alert, every sense is stretched out to feel to the beyond. He expects danger, he expects he'll need to reach for his sword (a sword no longer on his back) and slice, rip, cut into what every opponent that has found him next. It is a comfortable extension of the arm; he expects it like an intake of breath, like the dawn.

When he had first gotten home he'd slept.

Nearly five days straight. Ilia had been the one to kick down his door (bless her heart) to find if he was still alive or not, he distinctly remembers not only had she shook him but had also dumped a bucket of water over his head, declaring he was going to have a bath and he was going to have it now. Which he did, she dragged him out and to her house where she prepared him a bath, only managing to scrub at his hair before both becoming too embarrassed she'd left the room and left him to his own devices.

Luckily she had set out his old clothes, as the hero's clothes were far too covered in battle and traveled grime to feel comfortable in just after a bath right? Wrong. His old clothes felt odd, too light without equipment and too foreign. It was not the second skin and the moment Ilia had insisted on cleaning and hanging the hero's clothes out to dry, he had waited anxious for them all day. As if he could not be safe, as if no one could be safe, unless he wore them.

It was ridiculous. Hyrule was safe, Gannondorf was dead. What was there to fear? Everything could be as it once was.

He should be sure of that.

But he was not.

It did not stop there; there was an ache in his bones, pinpricked pain in his right arm, as if there was a growing schism within it that would not cease to be. When the children (not all of them exactly children any more- Colin, Talo, Malo, Beth) came to visit him, every too quick, too sudden movement would set him off and he may grasp at an arm attempting to pat his shoulder or tug at his tunic- too fast, too roughly. Always he would apologise.

When the goats needed to be placed in the pen, he no longer needed Epona to direct them, just himself and that scent of the wolf that still lingered and was there for good (he realised, heart thudding not in battle ready but sullied acceptance.)

The food Ilia cooked with new or old spices always seemed to become more distinct, burning, overwhelming, and he often found himself shoveling more bread in his mouth than whatever main dish there was when he ate over.

When the moon was full, he felt giddy and light headed, the pain in his arm would turn to a dull ache, gentle thrumming, as if a bittersweet memory to be called upon in earnest and by his own choice, and when he did cave in to its pseudo bliss- the wet earth would smell delightful and every breeze that rippled through the lush trees made him want to run, grass beneath his feet, his paws- dirt between his claws-

Hyrule had returned to normal, life had returned to normal for the people he had protected, but he had not returned to normal.

Link blinks against the dark of his ceiling as he wakes in the night, from a dream, from the sharp pain in his right arm. It had been a while since he had thought of his parents. Everyone had said he'd never exactly looked alike to them, but every time it had been brought up his parents had so vehemently swore that he was their real son that this rumour had simply ceased to spread or even be thought about any longer.

He had forgotten that he did not know any Hylian when he first came to Ordon, to even know his parents- it had seemed just too long ago, and his arrival only comes in patches, the Mayor, Bo introducing his daughter, introducing Ilia. He had been the distant cousin of Ambri and Xandre's- his parents and that really they didn't carry any relation any more. That or it was just a forgetful sort of relation. Besides in the village your friends were like your family, that is what Link felt.

One winter, when he was around nine, a sickness had killed many of their neighbors, had killed his parents. Stricken. Despairing. All the Hylian he had picked up seemed to disappear from his brain during those first few weeks of their death. What was weird was that he did not recall what language he had known before Hylian, had he known one any before that (but he must have he remembers hands about their mouths and gibberish unlike the one he hears now) he remembered only the melody of an old song none could name in Ordon when he hummed it to them. They suggested it to be a city song, but when he hummed it to a mail carrier that did not so often come but had come from the city, the mail carrier told him no melody such as that existed in the city.

Ilia's mother had died that winter too, and Link would hum that melody to Ilia as she cried herself to sleep, face buried against his chest, they had rocked each other past grief and into the oblivion upon the high hay in the barns where the goats had shivered in the cold and slept as well.

Though the winter was rough, was cruel and to be hated it seemed, Link could not hate it, could not hate the sight of falling snow, and the vast whiteness that held everything and nothing on its unfeeling scape. It was nostalgic; he thought that unknown melody must be about winter because they seemed like the gloved hand.

His vision clears.

Still dark.

He turns in his bed and tries to go back to sleep.

Hoping in the morning the pain will go away.

--

He doesn't want to admit that the pain only gets worse, that it bruises inside out, that it makes black lines from the tips of his fingers to almost his elbow now. Doesn't want to admit it is like the constellation of markings that moved when Midna had warped him from one place to another, when creatures of the darker twilight had taken form, had been on the buildings of that realm, and more importantly had been the dark against the blue green skin of Midna's body.

He doesn't want to admit it because he's not supposed to go back.

She was the one who had broken the mirror, she was the one who had decided that- for the better of Hyrule, for the better of the Twilight Realm and- he admits, for the better of them.

Link wants to respect that.

But he can't, not any longer.

Not when night calls to him more longingly then day. Not when he still thinks that dusk's touch is all the more desirous than the rising dawn.

Some how, he must return to twilight, it beckons him.

Before the first bit of sunlight hits over the trees he gets into his old clothes, he packs up all his old gear, and still without a blade he saddles up Epona and he lets her run with him upon her, run fast so that he may not desperately leap from her and run himself.

Like he wants to.

He doesn't notice he's been holding his breath until he lets it out against the rush of wind as they race through Hyrule field.

Searching for twilight.

--

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	2. your half baked words succeed mine

a/n: I work well under silence.

**hysteria**

Chapter two

_Your half baked words succeed mine_

**Two Months Ago**

Link approaches slowly.

Zelda has been talking a long time with her advisors and he does not want to disturb her, however he would like to bid her good bye; one part of him was antsy in returning home, the other part anxious- he didn't want to leave Zelda's side, what if something happened while he was gone? (What if she smiled. The first time she had smiled, truly smiled had given him a shock. She had been trying to comfort him on their way back from the desert. The fact that this regal person, the fact that Hyrule's future Queen who always seemed elegant, calm, and cool could smile just as brightly as any regular farm girl and at him no less! Had given a little shake to Link's perspective on her, as well as given a little shake to his heart) Also-

Link doesn't have to interrupt because Zelda's conversation ends when she notices him, she beckons him over with a white gloved hand, the General in command of what few army- what few soldiers that remained almost huffily silences himself now that Zelda's attention has moved from him. However he cannot help smiling for some reason or other when Link approaches and Link has half the mind to raise a brow at this, almost disapprovingly.

"We were just talking about you actually," Zelda starts; Link finds that when she is nervous she can hide it expertly well aside from that half a second of her fingers barely fidgeting when she brings them together, before her.

The General cuts in before Link may say anything in response, "She has a request for you."

Link looks on in interest, a request? Perhaps a mission? Zelda has this startling, almost embarrassed air about her when she sees Link's face go from one of polite listening to intense curiosity and attention.

"It's more than just a request," she tries to say smoothly, as she normally speaks. She glances over at the General, "If you'll excuse us."

And Zelda takes Link's hand so swiftly he was not even aware of her having an intention to do so; Link is aware Zelda's agile movements were not from mere heritage alone, it had been the talk of the castle once that the lovely gentle young Princess Zelda had wanted to take up the sword, and had- all for the sake of her country. Her mother had severely disapproved but her father had almost been ecstatic, proud. Link is just picturing a younger Zelda swinging about a sword when he realizes he's been dragged into the throne room, where he had first met her in something other than his wolf form. A lot of the castle had been destroyed, but steadily the people of Hyrule, even the Gorons and the Zoras had come to help rebuild the castle. Surprisingly after the battle Link had discovered that the castle was what had absorbed almost all the damage, the town had remained untouched and intact.

"Link," Zelda starts out quietly, he wants to tell her to relax, it's just him, they are friends- she had no reason to feel nervous around him, but the words sort of die down in his throat when she looks at him directly, with an expression he cannot name. It soon dissolves into a ruling façade that is just as natural to her as any other.

So she says his name once more, a bit stronger. Then-

"Chosen Hero, you have protected Hyrule diligently, tirelessly, with everything you have. That's why what I wish to ask of you, I actually do not wish to ask of you at all."

Link vaguely feels like he's been stabbed (of course he does know what that actually, literally feels like, but this-)

"Your Highness," Link starts, hands at his sides neither hanging loosely nor fisting, but merely tense from one finger to the next. A determined gleam in his eyes strong enough that it almost looks harsh in the faded light of early morning.

Zelda looks at him startled, various guards that had returned liked to mutter to the other about how Link was not one for formalities, how whether you old, young, of high or low status, whatever your species- he always addressed you as if you were his friend and comrade, however for him to also do that to the Princess was...

"If there has been something I have done that has lead you to believe I am incompetent to do the task you wish for me to do-"

"No!" Zelda interrupts strongly, brow creased, he sees a slight slump of her shoulders and he wants to clasp his hands over them- "That is not the issue at all, you are more than capable, it is just..."

As if gaining momentum in a run, a lock of golden hair falling over her shoulder, a delicate cringe, "It would be selfish of me to ask this of you."

Link starts forward, "Your Highness-"

And Zelda as if she cannot bear to hear anything but her name from his lips, she spills forth her wish in a rush as if she were admitting to an embarrassing secret- "Link I want you to become my Knight."

A clamor of wings as birds fly up from outside and across the windows to the roofs tops, a thick assemble of feathers and talons. Link has lost his breath in Zelda's exclamation.

She goes on, as if she has to explain herself, as if she ever has to explain herself to him, "The General, he said as I have never appointed a Knight to myself that I should do so, that had I a Knight when Twilight fell perhaps I would have been more prepared, battle ready to..." but they knew no one could have been ready for Zant, she trails off slowly, hesitant- "...also you are a perfect candidate."

Who else but the man who saved Hyrule from destruction, who defeated Gannondorf, who already had protected their princess to continue doing so? Who else but a legend should- just for what seems like eternity Link thinks it over, he would be allowed to be by Zelda's side, he would be allowed to protect her, to speak with her, to draw his sword in her name, he would be allowed to do this without judgment- without- without anything else. It would be his right. He would be her Knight and nothing more. That sort of joy, that sort of fancy tangible limbo- to go no further. If he became her Knight he would be-

"I refuse."

He looks up into her eyes, fierce silent interaction.

And her mouth softens, her eyes soften, "I admit, I am a bit surprised."

Link who was willing to do anything for Hyrule, for Hyrule's princess, would not even be her knight? She is glad she has asked him in private. And that only the General may know having pushed this idea into budding but not fruition. He wasn't a big talker either, the General.

Link speaks to her bluntly, looks at her bluntly, she already knows what he means.

She just wants to hear it from him.

"I understand it is your duty as our ruler to give the people a peace of mind by choosing someone to be your Knight. By choosing your Knight you ensure your safety and therefore ensure the people's safety. A Knight's role is honourable and important. However, to be your Knight and nothing more..."

Her breath is shallow as she waits, she does not know when the distance between them became slighter, smaller, but should her bend her head forward it would knock into his, should she only extended her arm from the elbow then it could reach his, should she only bend her head forward she could-

"To be nothing more than that to you, to only and always be your friend is something I do not mind, but I desire at least the opportunity to give you so much more, Zelda."

-and her lips hover over his, but she does not kiss him and he does not kiss her, just hanging there, an opportunity?

Zelda draws back, hands folding before her, "Then you shall have it."

And it is Link's shoulders that slump this time, a relief coursing through him, he could move his fingers again, fabulous. He scratches at the back of his neck almost sheepishly, "I'm sorry, you came to ask something of me and instead I asked something of you."

"It is alright. I much preferred what you had to ask than what I had-" and she stops near the end of her sentence, her insides jumping when the barest of touches grazed her arms, his fingertips.

He tells her, "One day I will be your equal."

Heavy, thick emotion holds onto her throat and the backs of her eyes, as she whispers, "You already are my equal."

Link takes her hand in his.

--

That felt like half a century ago.

That was before this curse began this pain in his arm, this sense of foreboding gripped him and would not let go. It was before he knew he must run- before he knew he had to do something. Eat or be eaten. An answer to a complex riddle, it could only be answered in twilight.

Why else would his body, his very soul soar at the prospect and returning to it again?

He leaves Epona at the edge of the woods and strips her of her reigns, tucking it away into a pack on the saddle. He rubs a hand tenderly over her muzzle. Murmuring his words softly to her, "Return to Ordon, Epona. I will be away for a while."

Stories circulated through the town, about the Twilight, about the Twili descendants of people who knew how to use magic, magic that was not approved by the gods. Some said that their descendants still existed in the world, but in a land far away from Hyrule.

The ones who did not stay and fight against the Hylians, and were sealed into the Twilight realm, they went east, and risked their lives in these black woods that no one ever returned from.

It was just the sort of every day challenge he had to face.

He scratches the back of Epona's ears one last time.

"See you later girl."

As he walks into those woods.

--

Colin is trying his best not to be alarmed, but there is an oddly dressed person, in red and white, timely knocking upon Link's door.

"Oh, it's the mailman," Beth says, hot breath racing down Colin's back as she says this near the back of his neck, he gives out a startled yelp.

"Would you please not do that?" Every time!

Beth giggles. Talo makes his way to the pair, Malo was out again on business (though he never liked to admit it, Talo was still pretty amazed his little brother had started to run a shop, just looking at the inventory papers made Talo's head spin). He speaks a little too loudly, and the mailman turns to look at him.

"What's the mailman doing all the way out here?"

"To deliver a letter of course!" The mailman chirps in answer, through puffs of running breath, did he never stop running? He had even been running in place at Link's door, even going down the ladder he looked like he was running. They really didn't know how he managed it, it was like a phenomenon.

He jogs over to them, where they had been crouching at the entrance into Link's yard and the path out toward Hyrule field. He looks over them politely, waving the letter slightly, but clean as to not cause rips or tears or any creases.

"Does a Mister Link reside here? " he calls out.

They all nod, numbly, still taking in his outfit, did all postal workers wear that?

"Do you know where I might find him? He does not seem to be in..."

"He's away," a gentle voice replies, it's Ilia, making her way toward them, her footsteps unintentionally light. They all turn to smile and greet her though her expression is almost stern and melancholy. She was always like that when Link was away,worrying-

She continues, "He may not be back for a while. Would it be alright if we were to hold the letter for him? Sometimes he goes to places you can't reach him..."

Where they can't reach him either, but that part is left unsaid.

The mailman nods in agreement, "Oh yes! I know of that. He's been my toughest customer yet. Sometimes I have to hold his mail for weeks! But it could be that we were just moving in the same direction at different times or-"

Ilia holds out her hand, and the mailman tries not to relent. It was in the postal code of honour to deliver mail only to whom the mail was addressed to, but there were some exceptions to the rule, so he asks what is the most usual excuse, "Are you his... wife?"

She semi-balks at him and quickly apologises, though it had always been an unspoken expectation of the village it had always been thought her and Link would end up together, and Link would become the mayor. Even her father supported this idea, and deep down Ilia had thought that just maybe this would be true one day. She had always thought him as a friend; they grew up as little children together. The transition to adulthood hadn't really changed anything, all up until he saved her despite her not being... her. But that outcome now seemed-

The mailman's timely voice interrupts her thoughts, "Of what relation are you to him then? If you're related I can let you hold his mail for him."

Otherwise another relentless journey awaited this postal worker, ah their hero was such a traveler. Though he didn't like to brag, this postal worker had been directly assigned to delivering Link's mail because of his good running, only he could match (sometimes, being in comparison to no time-) his pace to horse's gallop and-

"I... I'm his cousin," Ilia says knowing this is not entirely true but not entirely false either, her father had mention it lightly to her since it was such a hazy fact to begin with.

"Excuse me then," the mailman replies as he hands the letter to her, "I hope he'll return to receive it soon, it looks somewhat important!"

And runs off to delivery his other mail, none admiring his speed this time as all the children grouped around Ilia to look at the letter. Their faces bright as they peered over her arms to catch a glimpse.

The pillage of questions starts now.

"Who's it from?"

"Link is gone, _again?!"_

"When did he leave?"

"Why are you holding his mail?"

"Are you really cousins?!"

"WHO'S IT FROM-"

"Where did he run off to this time?"

"How did you know?"

Ilia looks down on them severely, they all knew what came after this. Though she was said to have a pretty, kind voice, when tempered it could be very loud and- "Be quiet everyone!"

They hushed instantly.

Colin, who for the most part had asked not many questions, asks the one Talo had kept repeating, only politely, and much much more quiet as to make push upon Ilia's irritability, which had every justification to exist when you had a mob and yelling children around you (well maybe not children so much anymore).

"Who is the letter from, Ilia?"

Ilia sighs, and turns the letter over and over, but there is no sign of who it is from, only Link's name on the front, and a seal on the back. A blue seal that-

...that.

The royal seal?!

Ilia looks on in alarm, the letter shaking in her fist from one corner, creasing. The others looking on further alarmed, asking her what was wrong and if she will be alright.

"This letter..." she starts, voice small, and Beth is near silent as she knows, from the expression on Ilia's face to the quality of the paper, to just that plain old woman's intuition that follows when they've all taken a fall whether little or large; if she leaned just a bit closer she could make out the seal, that royal seal- Colin breaks the half silence (Talo insistently talking shuts up when Colin says,) "It's from the Royal family isn't it?"

He looks at Ilia with such an apologetic expression that Ilia almost throws the letter at him. She knew he was just being himself, but she didn't need that. (She didn't need him, she didn't need Link-) That idea near breaks her heart.

"I think you should open it," says Talo far more calmly than they had every surmised his voice of being capable of.

Beth and Colin exchange a glance and a nod before turning their attention back to Ilia who continues to hold the letter, contemplating. There is barely any wind today, the trees hang still and the leaves rustling give barely a sound. The smell of morning grass, the goat's pen, a bee's nest not yet full of honey. The atmosphere carries cold clouds yet the sun is warm on her skin, sluggish upon her face.

Should she really open it?

"What if it's something really urgent, really important?"

A finger tugs itself beneath an edge.

"No," Ilia says, trying to draw it back, but find she too wants to open it. She gives a heavy sigh when she doesn't, a sour look crossing her features as she addressed all the eager faces, "And what would you do if it was urgent? There's no way we could find Link and tell him. Unless that's what you had planned? You all can't surely be thinking about looking all through Hyrule just to deliver this message?"

"Yes!"

A simultaneous answer.

"If that was the case," Ilia wags a finger at them, expelling the tight circle they had made around her, Talo concentrating too hard to avoid it, ends up landing on his butt, Beth gives a small laugh at this but tries to calm it down when she thinks over how it's immature to laugh at that sort of thing at this age.

Ilia crosses her arms, letter dangling in one hand, before waving it before their faces, not so much to taunt but get her point across, "Then I should have just let the mail man keep this and do it himself!"

Suddenly the letter is plucked from her as Malo cleanly opens the letter and looks it over.

"Malo!" they all cry out.

"Back from business already?" Colin asks, more a rhetorical question but asked nonetheless.

Malo is silent a few seconds more, before he tells them, in that ever always cutting voice of his (you could cut stone on it, Talo often muttered hastily as to let other's hear but not let his younger brother hear, though he always seemed to end up knowing exactly what Talo had said anyway- nothing good).

"It's nothing urgent."

They all look at him, urging him to go on.

He gives them a pointed stare, the wind picking up.

"It's only a letter from the Head of the Royal Guard asking that Link come to Hyrule Castle immediately so they may Knight him."

--

Zelda has to admit.

Anger does not suit her.

Rage, protective fierceness for her kingdom and people she wears and knows well, however anger just utter outrage? It was a shade all new to her. So when she swings the door to the Head of the Royal Guard's office a quick like a sunlight gleaming off the summer stream, everyone within it jumps.

Twice.

"What is the meaning of this?" and all the fierceness of the gods would have bowed to the mere echoes of her steps had they been there, Fandih the head of the Royal Guard however signs but one more paper to a new soldier's admittance before even daring to respond.

"If you're speaking about that letter I sent, Your Highness- then it was something I did in your and the Kingdom's best interest."

Zelda closes her eyes as if from sunlight before setting them with a hard look that spoke of no excuses, it softens when she recalls that Fandih had not always been this sort of man, a cunning that would do anything to "protect" the Royal Family (and now that it was just her-) he had been the cut out of the honourable Knight, he had been an exclusive right hand man of her father, and had originally been the head General of the Hylian Army, however due to his grievances to a fellow comrade, he had been moved to this position. A position once held from the Sheikah clan who no longer existed. That comrade had taken residence in the mountains; her father never heard from him again as he met his end before such an opportunity could exist.

However-

"It is I who decide the best interests of myself, Fandih. And it is the people who decide their best interests for the Kingdom-"

"Which is exactly why!" Fandih starts, exasperated. As if she is just a young princess and not a soon to be Queen. But he corrects himself and calmly, almost wearily replies, "Something like this, having the Chosen Hero be your Knight, Your Highness. It is the will of the people, the Kingdom you hold dearly!"

It's then she realises other people are in the room, but she does not glance back at the barely kept in gasp, a few books falling from their place on the shelf. Only continues to stare down the former- General, the General now. Lepivt, must have told Fandih of Link's refusal to be her Knight, which had lead him to these "drastic" measures. Him sending that letter, risked such news as going public, news like this would spread faster than fire under wind's influence on a dry day. And if the people knew... it would be like treason for Link to refuse.

"That is still not reason enough for you to do this. Link has the right to decide for himself what he wants."

Trying to trap him like this was, was...

Fandih continues, almost pleading "But Your Highness- to not want to be your Knight-"

She takes her leave before he can finish, trying to convince herself that it was not only for Link's sake, but also the Kingdom's sake that he not become her Knight.

--

Ashei tugs on Shad's sleeve as he still stares, fish mouthed at what had just happened before them.

Because they had been in the Resistance during the time Twilight had fell, afterwards with Gannondorf's downfall each of them had been offered particular and high positions to Royal Family. Each one of them aside from her and Auru had refused. Rusl wanting to get back to his farm life, his family, the new baby his wife had just had. Telma kept running her bar. Shad only wanted to complete his researching (which he had been told would be helped funded by the Royal Family though he had persisted on not receiving much; the castle still did need its repairs) but she. She had decided upon a small but not too small if you knew what she meant- post; the conflict her father had had against a certain General was still not forgotten upon the few remaining veterans of the military and she rather prove to them her own worth by her own means. Just another Colonel suited her fine enough (though honestly most of them had run out even before Twilight said enough). She wanted to kick the military into shape. She was more than capable of it too.

Auru had chosen an unspoken position, she thought him somewhat akin to a spy. He didn't talk about it much, but he was paid. And kept watch here and there like he always had.

Today she had been turning in some paper work in Fandih. Boys, men who wanted to be soldiers. Who wanted to be guards. Now they were a rupee a dozen. As if the worst was over and it was alright now. Plus, because she had been with them in the city they trusted her, though they thought her boyish accent either amusing or intimidating at times. Shad had been looking through old books, another information hunt that somehow related to the Royal Family or Hyrule or the military or whatever and had just happened to be there when she came. She had decided to ask him out to lunch, as it had been many hours since she had breakfast, and he had to give it a break sometime- when Zelda had rushed in, hair about her face, strands at one cheek, indignant all over the posture of her body- they hadn't even been this close to the princess when she had thanked them for their hard work and effort of defeating evil and protecting Hyrule.

When they had heard it.

That.

She manages to drag Shad out the room, stiff still. She's surprised herself, but she had never been one to phase easily. She didn't spend all those dark cold nights out hunting and training in the mountains with her father for nothing.

"It's not that surprising is it, yeah?" she asks him, as she closes the door cautiously behind her, Fandih though trying to hide it behind paperwork has a wounded, sour expression on his face. For all his bite, his bark is still louder.

"Well- that is- it's-" he makes some very interesting motions with his hands until he notices that he had still been holding books, papers, and some scrolls in them, he hastily tries to catch them. Ashei has to help him with a few books, catching them with ease.

"It's Link!" he finally gets out; she had had half the mind to pat his back a few times to get those chopped syllables out.

"Of course, what I'm shocked about is how he refused, ya know?" a hand thoughtfully holds her chin, the other hand fisting on her hip before they both start walking back out into the city, passing the big heavy doors that barred their way to the castle.

"Why do ya think he would do that? If I had been offered the position... with his..."

"Credentials?"

"Yeah, exactly!" a hand flies out as if to exaggerate a good job at supplying her the word, braids strutting out almost comically that even Shad has to admit is a bit cute for the almost stern Ashei, she had always just been the harder to approach sort of person, but of course once you got to know her she struck you as an extremely reliable drinking buddy.

"I would have accepted," she continues, almost thoughtful. "Why do you think Link didn't?"

Ashei's thoughts have turned back to bread and perhaps some of that hard cheese she quite liked but everyone frowned upon as camp food when Shad finally answered her, a composed deeply contrasting to earlier.

"He probably didn't accept because if he became Princess Zelda's knight that's all he would be."

Ashei doesn't turn to look on him, but her words aren't lost to the high ridge of a building or the swaying skirts of visiting gypsies. She eyes the piles of apples for sale at a nearby stand, armoured arms swinging to and fro in step.

"...he's much more ambitious than I thought he'd be."

Shad smiles, almost awkward. "It's not uncommon for men to become that way for the sake of-"

"Don't say it man!"

Ashei really is such a tomboy.

One whiff of romance and she became uncomfortable. Shad couldn't help but think that made it look not so good for him, but shoved this idea far far into the back of his mind. Where had it come from anyway?!

--

"That's where he probably ran off to," Talo sighs.

They're all munching down on the grilled fish Colin caught. He didn't catch them as big, or grilled them as right- as Link had but it's still all kinds of delicious and they're empty hungry.

"He probably knew that he was going to get summoned, and decided to get there early," Talo rattles on, every one meanwhile looking at him either disapprovingly (for Ilia's sake who was not there to hear this thankfully) or in thoughtful contemplation, it was plausible right?

Colin was shaking his head however, "No way Talo, something this big... I'm sure Link would have told us about it."

Talo however disagrees and the two continue to bicker about it for the next ten minutes, Beth sighs. Her fingers greasy from the fish but not uncomfortably so. After Malo had opened the letter and handed it back to Ilia, Ilia had told them to run off and play while she went off to do some farming duties. But Beth was sure that wasn't what she was doing...

--

What if that was the reason he had gone?

Ilia doesn't like to think that it is, but nevertheless, he wasn't going to just leave without saying good bye. Even if she had to march to Hyrule Castle herself to get to the bottom of this; that was what she was going to do! She lingers by his house, half contemplating to try to go in to see if he had left a note or anything. And thinks about how she should leave a note. She looks about for any stray charcoal and writes on the back of that very letter,

_Everyone,_

_Off to find Link._

And at that moment Epona clomps in, before Ilia has the time to overcome her surprise she notices Epona's reigns are off and Link not on her. Again. This only meant one thing.

Wherever he was he was staying. Trapped. Or staying!

She writes a tad more aggressively than intended as she finishes the letter off.

_I'm with Epona, so I'll be alright._

_Be back soon, take care._

_Ilia_

She tucks it beneath the crack of his door and fishes out those reigns. Irresponsible? Very much. Unlike her? Somewhat. But she couldn't let this go. Just this once she had to do something. (For him? For her? She would get that question answered when she saw him.)

This time she was going to-

--

Ashei had mentioned these woods to him once as well, they were not close to the mountains her father and she had roamed, but they were notorious for not being mere adventure but a death sentence. It was cursed, it was haunted, it was an eating maze. Training in the rough was one thing, dying in it was another.

Entirely stupid.

He must be stupid, daft. But logic hadn't always gotten him out of tight fixes. It had been guts, intuition, and when Midna wasn't yelling or grumbling about what a stupid human or what a stupid dog he was, it was she who helped him out.

But she wasn't here now, so it was back to good old guts and intuition.

The woods are dark, but he doesn't want to light his lantern to alert everyone in the forest he was here. While it was true Twilight was gown and Gannondorf was dead, Link was still without a sword, and there still laid horrors in this world unexplored if you looked in the right places. Just because they were not from or mutated from twilight did not mean they could not take your life.

It's times like these (and a few others) he wishes he could become a wolf again. However with Midna gone it was not possible (the pain in his arm almost sings of possibilities otherwise). Though his wolf's eyes were worse if not the same as his eyes now, at least his nose would be a welcoming helpful asset to navigating his way through the woods.

Beyond them it was told laid a village, an almost Kingdom of the Twili's ancestors that had made it through the woods and escaping from being banished to Twilight. They should hold a means to get to Twilight with their unorthodox relative magic, or may even have a version of the mirror that Midna had shattered. Either way Link had to get there. Soon.

He didn't remember getting tired this easily; he didn't remember his breath making that harsh ragged sound, his lungs burning, his chest heavy. What pain in his arm had been had doubled, and had not left him with just the prospect of detaching the limb. It spread further than that, a crushing mania that tried to pass itself off as irresistible-

A rustle of leaves, bushes moving.

His hand instantly moves to grip at the sword that is not present, and once it grips thin air Link swivels back into a crouch not missing a beat, hands out and ready to deal with whatever emerged. It sure as hell was not a squirrel from the large silhouette that made out a shape in the bursting leaves.

A form decked out in white mismatching feathers, at first he thought it a very very large bird. But when he spied the clawed, furry feet yet the almost pink new born shaded hands that emerged from the edges of those feathers- as if the feathers were just a suit of some sort, he knew it was no bird.

But what was it, his teeth barred before he can even think about it.

If he had been a wolf-

"Welcome," comes a girly voice, not what he had been expecting.

One of the hands swipes at the dangling feathers before her face, her eyes, yellow amber to peer at him. Tucking them to the side as if it were just an annoyingly long bit of fringe, entirely normal. She smiles, lips only, an odd bark coming from her throat that he surmises can only be a laugh. A sweeping motion behind her alerts him that- a tail?

"I knew it I knew it! You're a wolf aren't you?" Her hands clap about in abbreviated glee, that tail wagging, triangular ears perk up atop her head from beneath the feathers.

"I can tell you know- you cannot fool my nose!"

She makes a pacing step around him as he gets to his feet, still tense and untrusting.

"Ah, don't be like that," she cocks her head, an ear, "You must be from the North right? I know these things because only wolves from the North could have so much skill such as yourself to take on such a realistic human form! And a Hylian to boot! You must be a bit blasphemous, a loner?"

Cocking her head to the other side, the woods just a little brighter in his vision, a blue tinted foliage.

She points to her ears, "I'm not very good at it you see. We don't see much people round here, and we don't fancy going out to meet them either," another barking laugh, she circles him once more at a frenzied, excited pace, his eyes all alert on her.

"It's very hard to disguise the ears and tail. Did you try a Hylian because the ears are tipped like ours? Ha! You are a funny one I can tell, Wolf from the North. I do say that even hiding your tail is a bit much though, you are too humble. Or maybe you have a very ugly tail? Ha! Sorry that was rude."

She suddenly stops before him, her claws making not a mark on the dirt, the pitch patch of grass from where she'd walked around him over and over, her hands behind her back, "I'm Lawei, just so you know. Some call me a god some call me a demon of these woods. Whatever I may be, to me and my pack I am just Lawei."

He straightens his back just a little, for all her playfulness it seems genuine.

"I'm Link," he replies.

"Link!" Lawei barks, "What a funny name to name a wolf! It's just like from that human legend. Real legends don't have names is what my pa used to say, but perhaps that is just amongst us wolves."

She turns to bat her tail at him, her fur a rich brown red, "It's always our colour that makes us distinct. Like Large Black Grey Silver, took on fifty Yetis he did that crazy bastard. Excuse me for saying."

Link is about to mention how he doesn't know any wolf legends but decides for the best not to. This Large Black Grey Silver must have been a northern wolf by the way Lawei addressed him, plus- Link feels the sweat on his neck grow cold. Yetis.

His silence is agreeable to her and she stomps an unmorphed foot, "Mmm, I still cannot believe your skills are this good! But I could still tell yes, I could. No human would come into these woods with an empty sheath, I knew it!" Her face leans toward his a bit too close, but he does not lean away though he'd like to.

"Without a sword, because you don't need one. You already carry one! Us wolves, sure aren't like those humans. Our fangs are the only blade we need!" She bares him hers, showing him off some very sharp somewhat yellowing teeth.

She looks to him almost expectant for him to do the same, but he just shakes his head.

"Lawei," she perks instantly at her name, "I am looking to find what is beyond these woods, would you mind showing me the way out?" he asks, wondering if the more wolf thing to do would be to tough it out and be able to get out on his own. But time has had too much to tell already, he's not sure how much longer he would be able to wander either.

Lawei looks at him surprised, "A way out? Why would you want to leave the woods?"

Link pauses, it was odd for a wolf to not want to live in the woods wasn't it? But instead of giving any story, any half baked lie he tells her outright.

"I'm looking for a mirror that is supposed to be in a Kingdom beyond these woods."

Carries soft not in the forest around them, her playful demeanor seems to chip away as sullenly she replies, "There is a mirror in these woods."

--

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